From extortion to recruitment: cartels use AI to extend activities

Cybercrrimen exceeds drug trafficking profits

The profits obtained by criminal organizations through the use of technology have even surpassed the drug trafficking activity itself.

Víctor Ruiz, founder of Silikn and Cybersecurity certified instructor, He explains that the cartels do not depend solely on drug trafficking and that it is in the diversification of activities where they have achieved millionaire profits.

“According to studies by the Inter -American Development Bank and the Organization of American States, drug trafficking has been overcome in terms of income from cybercrime,” he says in an interview.

The reason? The specialist explains that deploying a logistics for traditional criminal operation requires human and economic resources, while digital lowers costs.

“To display a logistics A criminal system as they have done require many resources for production, transport, money for corrupt authorities, a lot of money to buy weapons. They also need to review distribution routes, put together clandestine laboratories, this is very expensive for them, they require many resources, so they have seen in technology something that helps them because it is not so expensive to implement, and suddenly offers them very good results,” he says.

Of crimes common to recruitment

The technology and the use of AI allows criminal organizations to go beyond crimes such as Estar and extorte, as it is used for purposes such as Surveillance, evade authority, easy recognition and even forced recruitment.

“The crime does not sell drugs, they seek to extort, make telephone fraud, but also recruit people through video games. They are registered as users and try to convince those who see more active, who have certain leadership skills and who can also control certain communities and attract them by offering luxuries, or also can threaten them,” says Víctor Ruiz.

The recruitment of children, adolescents and young people through social networks or video games has taken strength in recent years, so that even in the Chamber of Deputies it has been proposed impose sentences up to 18 years who incur that crime.

According to an organization’s report “Weaving childhood networks” of the year 2023 around 35,000 minors are victims of forced recruitment every year.